• The New York Times , Thursday, October 16, 2008 10:33 AM

In a walk-up to the Association of National Advertiser conference in Orlando, which gets underway later today, Stuart Elliot reports that this is only the second time in history that the annual meeting will be sold out. The more than 1,200 attendees will, among other temporary diversions from the doom and gloom of their appointed rounds, hear about a global study from BBDO that identifies additional roles for brands in the everyday lives of their consumers.

Speakers will include Jim Stengel, global marketing officer, Procter & Gamble; Mike Mendenhall, chief marketing officer, Hewlett-Packard, Mark Addicks, CMO, General Mills; Anne Finucane, CMO, Bank of America; Tony Hsieh, CEO, Zappos.com; Tom Rogers CEO, TiVo; Joe Tripodi chief marketing and commercial officer, Coca-Cola; Claire Bennett svp, global marketing, American Express, and Joaquin Hidalgo CMO, Nike Brand. The full agenda for the conference can be found here .

Marketing Daily editor Nina Lentini and reporter Karl Greenberg are already blogging and will continue to do so until Sunday. You can catch their timely dispatches here.

Read the whole story at The New York Times »